


deep in the night where the moon's glowing bright

by the_aaliyah_rose_black



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Eleven | Jane Hopper Loves Mike Wheeler, Eleven | Jane Hopper and Mike Wheeler in Love, F/M, Good Sibling Nancy Wheeler, Hurt Mike Wheeler, Hurt/Comfort, Mike Wheeler & Nancy Wheeler Bonding, Mike Wheeler Loves Eleven | Jane Hopper, Mike Wheeler Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:14:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,273
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27567334
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/the_aaliyah_rose_black/pseuds/the_aaliyah_rose_black
Summary: What if instead of the Mind Flayer grabbing Eleven and making her go through shit, it grabs Mike instead?Cue Mike whump, Mileven angst and fluff, and Nancy being a good big sister.
Relationships: Eleven | Jane Hopper & Jim "Chief" Hopper, Eleven | Jane Hopper/Mike Wheeler, Jonathan Byers/Nancy Wheeler, Joyce Byers/Jim "Chief" Hopper, Maxine "Max" Mayfield/Lucas Sinclair, Mike Wheeler & Nancy Wheeler, Will Byers & Eleven | Jane & Dustin Henderson & Maxine Mayfield & Lucas Sinclair & Mike Wheeler
Comments: 31
Kudos: 53





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Stranger Things fanfiction! Also, is there anyone else who doesn't hate Mike? He's in my top-five favorite Stranger Things characters, because of how real his character arc and emotions are. Also, Finn Wolfhard's a fantastic actor. 
> 
> The title is a line from the song "The Ghost on the Shore" by Lord Huron. It's a really great song and I totally recommend it for any Lord Huron fans out there!

Mike shuddered as he stood in the cabin, everyone tense, all waiting for a fight. He stood next to El and Will, Nancy in front of him, holding a gun. Everything was silent, except the lights were flickering, wind was whistling through the trees, and the slight screeching noise that caused the hairs on the back of his neck to stand up. Heavy breathing was heard, and Mike saw Eleven's face tense, as if she was preparing for a fight, which he knew she was. Everything was still, when all of a sudden, a claw shot through the walls, causing all of them to scream and run toward toward the walls. 

Jonathan then began hitting the claw with an ax, trying to kill it. Black and dark red blood sprayed everywhere over the floor and the walls, and Mike winced as Jonathan got thrown across the room, the ax falling from his hands. Nancy then began shooting at it, causing the claw to go after her. He was about to go pick up the ax that was next to Jonathan, but suddenly, the claw stopped, as if something was holding it very tightly or if it just froze in place.

He watched as Eleven fought the Mind Flayer, multiple claws coming out. Dread and apprehension were lurking heavily in his gut, like something bad was going to happen. 

And, boy, was he right. 

As the claws El was fighting retreated, the room was silent, only the sound of her heavy breathing was heard, and all Mike could hear was his own heartbeat thumping in his ears. His gaze was firmly on Eleven, ready to expect another claw to shoot out and possibly take her, but his thoughts were soon contradicted. 

Pain, unimaginable pain hit his right leg, and he felt himself being dragged up into the air. Teeth were being sunk into his ankle, and he yelled out, the puncturing of millions of tiny teeth causing his ankle to burn and feel as though it was doused in fire. _Was this was Bob felt like while he was getting attacked?_

"Mike!" he heard both El, Will, and Lucas shout, and hands gripped his, trying to pull him down. He was yelling in pain, the Mind Flayer trying to pull him while his friends tried to pull him back down. It was like a tug of war game, only it was a matter of life and death. 

Suddenly, the Mind Flayer dropped him. 

Mike fell to the cabin floor, his ribs and head taking most of the fall, still groaning and whimpering in pain, and he opened his blurry eyes to see El standing in the center of the room, her arm outstretched, blood dripping from her nose. She had an angry and protective look on her face. Another claw shot out and grabbed him, this time with more force. Tightly clenching his eyes, he sobbed out of pure agony and felt hands gripping his and his arms, trying to pull him down.

"Nancy, shoot it!" both Will and Jonathan shouted.

"Go to hell, you son of a bitch!" his sister yelled, and gunshots rang out. The sound of an ax hitting one of the claws reached his ears, and he fell back to the floor, this time, almost knocking both Max and Will to the floor. The pain was still there, and it was much worse than before.

"Mike, Mike, are you okay?" Will's panicked and desperate voice reached him, and he felt a hand on his shoulder. He opened his eyes and through his blurry vision, he could see Will's face hovering over him. He nodded, dizzy from the pain in his head, in his side, and most of all, his ankle. With a flash of red hair and a red shirt, he saw that Max and Lucas ripped the piece of the Mind Flayer that was still attached to him off. Mike screamed and sobbed at the same time, his leg now throbbing and a stabbing pain accompanying it. 

The monster screeched, and he saw that in front of him, El had both of her hands out, screaming as she slashed the monster's mouth open. He felt multiple hands on his shoulder and under his arms, pulling him backward. 

"Nancy," he sobbed, seeing his older sister's panicked face in front of him. 

"I'm here, I'm here, it's okay," Nancy tried to assure, unsure of what to do to try to help her younger brother's pain. Lucas, Will, and Jonathan helped him up, Eleven rushing over to him.

"We gotta go, we gotta go," Max was saying. 

"El," Mike whimpered, worry coursing through his veins as he looked for the girl he loved, trying to see if she was hurt. Blood had dried on her nose, she looked tired, but worry was more present in her beautiful brown eyes rather than exhaustion. 

"Mike," she whispered back, going onto his other side and helping him walk through the door. They rushed into the car, Jonathan rushing to the driver's seat while Will and El sat in the back with him. He felt like he couldn't stop crying, the pain washing over him in waves on a stormy summer day. 

"Sshhh, you're okay, Mike, you're okay," Will assured, his own face twisted in concern, grabbing his hand and squeezing it tightly. "I've got you, I've got you." 

They drove in silence, except for MIke's whimpers and quiet groans, and Jonathan parked horribly in the grocery store parking lot. Will and Lucas helped him out of the car, and Eleven used her powers to shatter the glass of the door so they could go in. 

"You're okay, it's okay," Lucas assured, his heartbreaking and worry clawing at his chest at Mike's whimpers and slight groans of pain as they helped him walk. "You're gonna be okay, Mike."

He shared a worried look with Will, who was gripping Mike's hand, letting him squeeze as hard as he wanted to. 

They could only hope that their best friend and Party leader would be okay. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike and El have a conversation while there is some sibling bonding between siblings.
> 
> Thank you for Pieter250 for making suggestions on this chapter!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for the all the comments and kudos! I'm so glad you're liking this story!

The pain in his ankle had gone down slightly now that Will and Lucas had helped him sit down against the shelf in the aisle that had all the bandages and medical supplies. Eleven was next to him, and she grabbed his hand without thinking, worry coursing through her veins. Nancy bent down next to him, holding a pack of bandaids and rubbing alcohol in her hand. 

"Woah, woah, hey, what are you doing?" Max asked as Nancy twisted the cap off the bottle.

"I'm cleaning the wound," she replied, glancing over at Mike, who had stopped crying, but was now shifting and whimpering at the pain in his leg. She was extremely worried, having never seen her younger brother in this much pain before.

"No, first we need to stop the bleeding, then clean, then disinfect, then bandage," the red-head explained. At the shocked look from everyone, Max added, "I skateboard, trust me." She gave Eleven a towel and gestured toward Mike's ankle. "Here, El, hold this." Eleven pressed firmly on the bite on Mike's leg, causing him to whimper and groan-slightly in pain, and she squeezed his hand tightly. "Keep the pressure nice and firm okay?" She then turned from the couple to Nancy and Jonathan. "We're going to need water, soap," she told them. The eldest Wheeler and Byers nodded and got up, walking down the other aisles. Max then turned to Lucas and Will, who were kneeling on Mike's other side. "Go get me a bowl."

"A bowl?" Lucas questioned. "Where the hell are we going to find a bowl here?" 

She rolled her eyes, turning to Eleven and Mike, "El, stay here with him, okay?" she said gently. Eleven narrowed her eyes slightly at her.

"Of course," she replied, still applying pressure to try to stop the bleeding on her ex-boyfriend's leg, who's whimpering had lessened, but a look of pain was still etched on his face.

She tried not to let worry show on her face as she turned back to her boyfriend and Will, standing up off the cold, tile floor. "Come on, doofus, I'll help you find one." She grabbed Lucas's hand and led him out of the aisle, Will following close behind. 

El, meanwhile, let go of Mike's hand and sat in front of him, still applying firm pressure to his ankle. Blood was on the gauze, but it wasn't bleeding heavily like before. He opened his eyes, focusing on regulating his breathing. _It's not that bad, Bob was worse. Much, much worse._

"Does it hurt a lot?" Eleven asked. 

"It's manageable," he replied, sitting up further. Eleven nodded, looking down. "I'm sorry."

She looked up, confused. "Why?"

"Of what I said," Mike explained. "I didn't mean to say anything that I said. I also wanted you all to myself, which was selfish of me, and I think it's cool that you're friends with Max."

He stopped rambling when Eleven reached over and squeezed his hand. "I'm sorry too."

"Why? You don't have to be sorry," he said.

El shook her head. "No. I shouldn't have spied on you, even though you said you weren't com-for-table with it," she explained, and since her vocabulary wasn't the best, she sounded out the word. Mike squeezed her hand. 

"It's okay, you were just having fun," he assured her and Eleven nodded, looking down with a soft smile. 

"You're going to have a cool s-scar," she stated, looking up at Mike with a smile. He chuckled softly.

"Thanks." El smiled at him, and both of them didn't realize that Nancy had walked up and had stopped at the back of the aisle, not sure what to do. Mike's wound needed some serious medical attention, but she didn't want to disrupt their moment of them talking. After a minute or two of standing in the background, Mike glanced up and saw his older sister was standing there. Eleven followed his gaze and Nancy gave her a look. She nodded, squeezing Mike's hand once.

"I'll be back in a second," she promised before getting up as Nancy walked in the aisle, sitting down in front of her brother. El sent a hesitant look, not wanting to leave him alone, but she knew that Nancy would be better than her at taking care of bandaging wounds. 

"Does it hurt a lot?" Nancy asked.

Mike shook his head. "It was worse before, not so much now." Nancy nodded as she took off the bloody gauze that was on her brother's right ankle and dabbed the cloth with in the water, causing him to hiss slightly as the cool water hit his wounds.

"Sorry," she apologized, still dabbing his leg.

"It's fine," he whispered, running a hand through his hair. Nancy bit her lip before tears started to well up in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Mike," she whispered.

Confusion filled his mind while his eyebrows furrowed. "Why?" he asked.

"Because I could've done more!" his sister exclaimed, a tear slipping down her cheek before she hurriedly wiped it away. "That claw had grabbed you, yet I did nothing. It was all El, Will, Lucas, and Max." Her voice broke at several times and she looked down, still cleaning blood off his leg. 

Mike reached over and squeezed Nancy's hand, causing his sister to look up at him. "It's not your fault. It's nobodies. You did everything you could, Nance." Nancy nodded and smiled at her brother before turning her head to get the disinfect and the bandage. Mike let go of her hand and reached up to his eyes, wiping away the tears that had formed there. It then faded into a comfortable silence, only to be broken by his hitching breath when Nancy applied started disinfecting the wound. She was just finishing wrapping the bandage around the wound when Lucas, Will, and Jonathan ran over, Lucas holding his Walkie Talkie in his hand. 

"What's wrong?" Mike asked.

"It's Dustin. They're at the mall. With Russians," was Lucas's reply. 

Mike shared a look with Will and Nancy, all three of them a mix of worried and confused. 


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> What the hell is in Mike's leg?

After Eleven had found that Dustin was at the mall, they headed out of the small grocery store, El's hand around Mike's waist as she helped him walk, Will and Jonathan behind them in case he fell. Lucas and Max were arguing about Lucas's plans to use fireworks, which Mike actually thought was a pretty decent idea, but Max didn't think so. He grunted slightly in pain as he put too much pressure on his right ankle.

El turned to look at him, worry clear in her brown eyes. "Okay?" 

Mike nodded. "I'm okay. Just put too much pressure on my leg." 

Before Eleven could respond, Jonathan walked over, opening the car door open and Will smiled gratefully at his older brother before allowing Mike and El to slip into the car, him following close behind with Lucas. Nancy got in the driver's seat and Jonathan in the passengers. 

"Everybody in?" he asked and they all nodded. He turned on the car and started driving away to the Starcourt Mall, all of them unaware of how Billy had gone into the store, finding something from the bite on Mike's leg that they wished later they had seen...

**-**

"Where are Steve and Dustin?" Max asked with a whisper as they entered the mall.

"Scoops Ahoy?" Will suggested, knowing that Dustin had been there a lot because Steve worked there. All of them nodded and began walking toward the ice cream parlor, Lucas slowing down so that he could walk with Mike and El.

"Did Dustin say anything else besides that they're at the mall?" Mike asked Lucas quietly. 

"It kept cutting out, the signal was probably too weak," Lucas replied. "But I did hear something about a code before it died out." 

"A code?" he asked, confusion furrowing his brows. "What code?"

Lucas shrugged, even though Mike could tell he was worried. "I don't know. And Erica hasn't been home in a while..."

"They're not here!" Nancy exclaimed from inside the parlor. 

"Check the back!" Jonathan suggested and there was the sound of a door opening, only for Nancy to walk back out. 

"Nothing," she said. "Where else could they be besides this ice cream parlor?"

Before Jonathan could respond, they heard the sounds of people walking, and it sounded like there were heavy boots. Then, someone speaking in Russian. El shared a look with Mike before walking over, Mike and Lucas following. 

Eleven stood in front of the railing, her arm outstretched and blood beginning to fall out of her nose as she caused the model car that was in the main court to shake and move, before lifting it up and swinging it so the guys got hit with it. Slowly, four people sat up from behind one of the counters, and Mike could see that it was Dustin, Steve, Erica, Lucas's little sister, and a girl that nobody knew who she was. 

"You flung that thing like a hot wheel!" Dustin laughed as he ran to hug Eleven and Mike, who had walked down the stopped escalators first, Mike leaning against her. He grunted slightly as he leaned too much on his leg, but Dustin didn't notice.

Steve noticed and his brows furrowed in concern as he glanced down at Mike's right ankle, which was wrapped up in a bandage. 

"What happened to your leg?" he asked. 

Before Mike could respond, Erica's voice rang out, "ask them, it's their fault."

"True, yeah, totally true. It's absolutely our fault," Steve agreed. 

"I don't understand what happened to the car," the girl who was standing beside Steve stated, looking back at the ruined car. 

"El has superpowers," Dustin explained. 

"I'm sorry?"

"Superpowers, she threw it with her mind, c'mon, catch up," Steve explained. 

"That's El?" Erica asked. 

"Who's El?" 

"I'm sorry, who are you?" Nancy asked.

"I'm Robin, I work with Steve," Robin explained. 

"She cracked the top-secret code," Dustin said. 

"Yeah, which is how we found out about the Russians," Steve added on. 

As their conversation continued, Mike was beginning to feel dizzy. It felt as though his head was buzzing and the conversation drowned out, and he began to walk away slightly from the group. Since he could mostly balance by himself, El had let go of him but made sure that he was right beside her. The wound on his right leg was growing in pain, and it felt as though something was moving inside it, trying to break free. He placed his hands over his ears as slowly but surely, a droning sound rang in his ears, and he whimpered slightly, clenching his eyes shut before falling to the ground on his side. 

Steve, who Mike had fallen closest to, heard the sound of him falling on the ground and rapidly turned, finding that he had collapsed on the ground, and was groaning slightly in pain. His protective or as Dustin calls him, mom instincts, kicked in and he ran over, kneeling beside him and placing his hands on his shoulders, turning him over.

"Woah, woah, Mike, Mike, you're okay, what's wrong, what's wrong?" he asked all at once, alarm shooting through him as he noticed the sweat pooling on his forehead. He turned around to the remaining group, "Nancy!" he yelled. 

Mike whimpered in pain, hands shooting out and grabbing the closest hand he could find, which was Steve's. The older looked down in confusion and worry, since Mike never really showed that he liked him that much, but allowed the second Wheeler to grab his hand and he squeezed it, trying to send comfort and letting him know he was there. El, Will, and Dustin ran over first, Nancy and Jonathan following quickly.

"Mike, what's wrong?" Eleven asked, kneeling in front of him. 

"My leg, my leg," he whimpered as Lucas, Max, Erica, and Robin ran over as well. 

"Okay, his leg, okay," Jonathan tried to assure himself. _Maybe the bandage was too tight or it had just started bleeding again?_

Nancy kneeled next to Mike beside Jonathan, and El moved so that she was on her ex-boyfriend's other side, and grabbed his hand as well. 

"Steve," Mike whimpered out and Steve squeezed his hand tighter, worry for one of the kids that he always wanted to protect coursing through his veins. Nancy frowned at the interaction but she was too worried about her brother to think very hard about it. _Since when were Steve and Mike close?_

Jonathan unwrapped the bandage that was on Mike's ankle with Nancy's help, and the wound looked completely different, it looked swollen and almost bruised, but the blood was a dark red instead of the bright red it was earlier. 

Then, all of a sudden, it started moving. 

Mike let out a groan of pain, his eyes clenched shut tightly. 

"Mike? Mike?" Eleven asked, worry for the boy she loved who was next to her, "Mike, are you okay?" 

Everyone watched as El tried to reach Mike, who was groaning and sometimes slightly yelling in pain. Will felt like crying, hating seeing anyone of his closest friends in pain, Robin was worried, never seeing a _kid_ in this much pain before, Dustin, who was next to Steve, confused by what the hell happened for Mike to be this injured and also worried for one of his best friends, and everyone else was a mix of worried and confused.

As the thing in Mike's leg moved, Mike let out a sob, the same sob he had made when the Mind Flayer grabbed him for a second time. Nancy winced at it, never wanting to hear the sound again in her life. El clutched at his hand, and so did Steve, who kept squeezing back as hard as he could, trying to comfort him. Nothing seemed to work, and Mike continued sobbing in pain. 

"What is that?" Erica asked, which was they were all thinking.

"Jesus Christ," Dustin stated as whatever the hell was in Mike's leg continued to move. 

"Keep him talking, keep him awake, okay?" Jonathan stated, getting up and running over to one of the food stations.

"What are you doing?" Nancy asked her boyfriend, who didn't respond. She turned her head to Mike, whose crying had lessened and his eyes had closed. 

"Hey, hey, hey, stay awake," Steve said, turning to El and Dustin. "Come on, let's get him on this side." Both kids nodded, helping the older boy move Mike so that he was sitting up. Mike whimpered, tears falling from his eyes aspain shot through his whole body as they moved him to an upright position, Steve on his left and Eleven on his rigt, both of them clutching his hands. "Easy, easy, easy, easy, I got you, you're okay."

"You know, it's not actually that bad. There was a, the goalie on my soccer team, Beth Wildfire, this other girl slid into her leg, and the bone came out of her knee, six inches or something, it was insane," Robin rambled and the rest of the kids were looking as if she was insane. 

"Robin," Steve interupted.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"You're not helping," Steve interupted. 

Jonathan came running over, gloves, a wooden spoon, and a knife. "Okay. All right, Mike, this is gonna hurt like hell, okay?" he said.

"Okay," Mike sobbed, and El held on tighter to his hand, her palms going sweaty. Steve was kneeling next to him, holding his hand as well. Nancy was in front, biting her lip in worry and she swallowed the growing lump in her throat. She couldn't cry now, she had to be strong, for Mike. 

"I need to stay real still," Jonathan explained, putting the gloves on his hands before handing Eleven the wooden spoon, who helped slide it in Mike's mouth. "Here, you're gonna want to bite down on this, okay?" Mike whimpered and Jonathan looked as though he was going to be sick as he held the knife in his hands, bringing it down to the bite on Mike's leg. He looked around at all the kids, at his brother, who looked like he was going to cry from his spot next to El, and to Nancy, who also looked like she was going to be sick as well. 

"Do it," his girlfriend said and he nodded, bracing himself as he sliced into Mike's leg, who let out a scream and a sob, throwing his head back and his eyes clenching shut. Steve and El gripped tighter onto his hands, Steve murmuring words of comfort that probably didn't do anything.

"You're okay, you're okay, Mike, just hold on," he murmured, his stomach churning in worry at how much pain he seemed to be in. Jonathan placed the knife down and took a deep breath, looking as though he was going to be sick himself as he placed his hand in the wound, trying to grab whatever the hell was in his leg. Mike screamed which turned into a sob at the end, tears streaming down his face. 

As Mike screamed and screamed, El couldn't take it anymore. What Jonathan was doing wasn't working, it was only making him in more pain, and she had an idea of what might work. 

"Stop!" she yelled out. "Stop!" 

"Jonathan, stop!" 

Jonathan stopped, looking up to look at her. Everyone was looking at her now.

Eleven swallowed. "I can do it," she stated.

Mike spit out the wooden spoon, looking up at her with pain-filled, teary, tired, and worried eyes. "What?"

She turned back to him, squeezing his hand lightly. "I can get that thing out of you," she spoke. "If you'll let me."

"H-how," his voice cracked and was hoarse from screaming and crying. He cleared his throat before starting again. "What if it's not safe? What if it drains you too much?"

"Mike," her voice was soft as she looked at him right in the eyes, "I need you to trust me. I hate seeing you like this." 

They stared at each other for a long moment, having a conversation with their eyes. That was the thing about it: they could just look at each other and know what they're feeling. 

Finally, Mike nodded. "Okay."

Grateful but also worried, El nodded back and without thinking, leaned over and pressed a kiss to his sweaty forehead, stroking his fluffy hair before pulling away and glancing at Will, who nodded and hurriedly wiped his eyes, sliding over the spot she previously was in, and he grabbed Mike's hand, who squeezed back. She then glanced at Max, who looked shocked but was also worried about Mike. Steve grabbed the wooden spoon and slid it back into Mike's mouth, his teeth perfectely lining up in the ridges. 

Taking a deep breath, El reached her arm out and focused on the bite on Mike's right ankle. Blood dripped from her nose and Mike whimpered, causing Steve and Will to grip his hands tighter. His whimpers turned to sobs of pain as Eleven yelled out, finally grabbing whatever the hell was in Mike's leg: it was a part from the Mind Flayer. She threw it across the hall and it landed on the tile floor, staining it with dark red blood. It weakly tried to run away, only for it to be crushed under someone's boot. Everyone looked up to see Hopper, Joyce, and another guy who Nancy and Jonathan knew to be Murrary Bauman. 

Eleven sighed in relief as she locked eyes with her dad, who looked at them in concern in confusion.

Finally, things might be looking up. 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Some regrouping happens and maybe Hopper realizes that being so mean to Mike wasn't that called for...

"What the hell happened?" Hopper asked, surveying the scene. Jonathan, gloves on his hand and a knife that had black-purplish goo on it, Eleven, who had blood dripping down her nose and a look of relief on her face as she kneeled in front of Mike, and Steve, who looked the most beaten he had ever seen him, and finally Mike.

God, the kid looked awful. His face was pale and there were dried tear tracks on his face, along with his black hair sticking his forehead due to sweat. Hooper felt sick as he looked down at Mike's leg, which was cut open and had the same black-purplish goo that was on the knife. It looked like there was a giant bruise on it. Will and Steve were on both of his sides, Will looking as if he could be sick, and Steve looking extremely worried.

"What happened?" he asked again, his voice louder, and he felt Joyce's hand on his arm. He took a deep breath, knowing that yelling at these traumatized kids wasn't going to do any good. Mike flinched, turning away. 

"The Mind Flayer," Nancy spoke up, "it attacked us and it bit Mike." She glanced at her younger brother, who was currently being comforted by Steve.

"And it sort of destroyed your cabin," Lucas piped. "Sorry." Hopper took a deep breath again, turning his head and looking at Joyce for help.

She rolled her eyes before speaking, "Alright, first, we need to clean and bandage your wound, Mike," she spoke, before turning to him, "are you alright, honey?" she asked, worry in her tone. Mike just nodded, looking completely and utterly exhausted. Joyce nodded. "Is there any first-aid kit here?" 

Robin nodded. "There is," she said, and at Joyce's questioning look, she added, "I'm work at Scoops, with Steve."

 _So that would explain the sailor uniform,_ Hopper thought. Robin then ran off, her keys jingling as she ran toward the ice cream parlor, coming back a few minutes later with a white and red box. 

"Here," she said, handing Joyce the kit, slightly breathless. 

"Thank you," Joyce thanked and Robin nodded. Joyce then knelt down in front of Mike, who had pushed himself up with the help of Will, Eleven, and Steve. She then opened the kit, slipping some gloves on her hands. "This is going to hurt a lot, sweetheart, so, just, hold onto Steve and Will."

"Okay," he whispered back, glancing at Nancy, who was sitting beside Jonathan, biting her nails in worry. 

Joyce felt a hand tap her shoulder and she turned to see Eleven, who was holding out a wooden spoon.

"Here," she simply said, "he bit down on this before." 

Joyce's heart tightened when she saw the teeth marks that were on the spoon already. She smiled and thanked El, who nodded, and slipped back, sharing a look with Will, who nodded and the two of them switched places. Joyce then handed the spoon to Mike, who wordlessly slipped it into his mouth, the ridges sliding perfectly. She then took out the disinfect cream, and with a small warning, she then began cleaning the wound. 

Mike let out a whimper and a cry, nuzzling his face into El's chest, who wrapped her arms around him and ran her hands gently through his hair. "You're okay, you're okay," she whispered, pressing small kisses to his hair. Max looked away from where she was staring at the pair, now feeling slightly guilty that she had gotten in between the pair. She refused to show that worry was currently coursing through her veins. Sure, Mike might annoy the hell of her, but she never wanted to see him in hurt like this. 

Within a few minutes, Joyce had finished disinfecting the wound and wrapped a bandage around the wound on his ankle, making it wasn't too tight. She then glanced up at Mike and El, and smiled softly. Mike was leaning against her, his face now nuzzled in her shoulder, while El ran her hands softly through his hair, and the action seemed to tender that it made Joyce feel light and happy inside, while it made Hopper look away, now feeling guilty for separating the two. 

Joyce gently patted Mike's shoulder, and he looked up, still looking pale and exhausted. "Is there anything you need?"

"Um, some water please?" he asked, his voice hoarse and quiet. Nancy, who had heard him, turned around and soon grabbed a styrofoam cup that she had filled with water and she handed it to Mike, who took the cup, muttering a small thanks. His hands were shaking so much that it was hard for him to hold it, so Eleven gently grabbed hold of his fingers, helping him take a sip of the water. The water felt good on his sore and dry throat. 

"We should keep your leg elevated," Steve said. "It helps reduce swelling." Everyone gave him confused looks. "What? I can be smart." 

Dustin and Will chuckled quietly, and a small smile formed on Mike's face as Steve and Eleven helped him up, letting him lean on him as they walked to the center, where there were multiple benches for them to sit on. Eleven sat on one, gently easing him into her lap, and Nancy helped make sure his ankle was elevated. 

He whimpered as the pounding in his head came back, and he nuzzled his head into El's stomach, causing her to look down, her hands beginning to run through his hair.

"You okay?" she whispered softly.

He nodded. "Yeah. Just have a small headache." Eleven nodded, turning back to the rest of the group, still running her hands through Mike's hair, finding comfort in his warm weight pressed against her. Mike, meanwhile, closed his eyes and let himself rest, drifting off in a light sleep.

"Okay, so what are we dealing with?" Hopper asked. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry I haven't updated this in so long! After Thanksgiving, my school went full remote and my teachers thought that giving us a shit ton of work was an amazing idea!

**Author's Note:**

> First chapter is done! This is really dramatic, but it's Stranger Things. I'll try to update tomorrow, but I don't know,


End file.
